4th June, 2019
Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has assured workers in the state that their salaries would be paid before the end of every month, irrespective of delay in federal government allocation.
The governor gave this assurance while addressing workers at the arcade ground in the state secretariat, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta.
“It gladdens my heart to be in your midst this morning. I consider serving this state as a rare honour and may the Lord that started this journey allow it to end in praises. I want to assure you that you are central to our vision because the topmost of our vision is good governance and we can’t achieve it without prompt payment of salaries and other benefits you deserve. You can’t talk about qualitative service and creation of enabling environment when you are owing salaries.
”Investors will not even come if we are owing salaries hence, your salaries will be paid as and when due. I have made up my mind to pay your salaries before the end of the month whether allocation from Abuja comes or not,” Governor Abiodun told the workers.
The governor who was accompanied by his deputy, Engr Noimot Salako-Oyedele charged the civil servants to be committed to their jobs, with a promise to expose them to continuous training in order to ensure efficiency and effective performance. He described them as the engine room of his administration.
Again, the governor reiterated his plans and programmes to the state workers and urged them to be patient with him by giving utmost support to his administration.
He said, “Ogun will not be a banana republic because we won’t tolerate indiscipline. During my first working day in office, I met with the Security chiefs of the State to discuss extensively the security matters. It will interest you to know that such meeting has not occurred in the last two years. In the cause of our campaign, we observed that the major disconnect between the government and the governed is the poor rural and township roads infrastructure.
”Therefore, we are resuscitating the Public Works Department to allow us use the in-house men to do the construction of roads and we would train them to meet the global standards.
”The PWD will have six yards across the state i.e Abeokuta, ifo, sagamu, Ijebu Ode, Ota and ilaro to ensure their wide coverage and optimum performance. Other major roads like Lagos-sagamu, Lagos-Ijebu Ode and Agbara-Atan will be constructed using public-private partnership arrangement.”
The governor emphasised his plan to have an education master plan to address the current challenges in the education sector, build a befitting primary health centre in each of the 236 wards and one specialist hospital in each of the three senatorial districts of the State.
He assured the gathering that his administration will harness the agricultural potentials of the State and predicted that the State would soon be feeding other States with its agricultural produce.
He called for patience, support and understanding towards achieving his programmes. He promised to always engage the workers on a regular basis.
Earlier, the Head of Service, Engr Lanre Bisiriyu appreciated the governor for the interaction with the workforce with an assurance that a new chapter had opened in the state.